Upholstery pad stuffing machinery



' July 14, 1936. T. M JOYNT UPHOLSTERY PAD STUFFING MACHINERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1935 zkf x NVE/WUR July 14, 1936. T. L. M JOYNT UPHOLSTERY PAD STUFFING MACHINERY F N "I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 3, 1933 QTTUF/VEY m JKWWXWCW July 14, 1936. T. M JOYNT UPHOLSTERY PAD STUFFING MACHINERY Filed May a, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jim ffi i x [v VE/V 70/? B A? WURA/EY Patented July 14-, 1936 TE STATES PATENT OFFICE Thomas L. McJoynt, Janesv'ille, Wis. Application May 3, 1933, Serial No. 669,112

9 Claims.

My invention relates generally to improved means for pad stuffing, the mechanism employed being approximately the same as that disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial Number 665,735

filed April 12,1933, covering Method of stuffing pads. This application covers themachinery for accomplishing the result outlined in the above named application.

One object of the invention is to provide means whereby the stuffing of pads is considerably accelerated; another object is to provide a mechanism whereby the feeding of pads tothe loading operators is considerably speeded up; another object is to provide. an improved mechanism that is economical to manufacture and portable in construction.

To more fully understand my invention, reference should be had to the accompanyingdrawings in which: v v

Fig. l'is a top plan viewof a portion of the pad loading mechanism;

, Fig. 2 is 'a side plan view of the mechanism disclosedinFig. 1; Y 3 ii i v Fig. 3 is a frontal fragmentary plan view of the ca'rriage frame on which pads are fed to the stuffing'operators; f Fig; 4 is a frontjplan View of a'mold loaded with astuffed pad ready to be returned to the loading operator;

"Fig. 5is a top planview of a mold showing a portion of the cover broken away as to reveal a pad in the process of being filled;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary 'plan view of a mold showing the adjustable locking device;

35. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the mold disclosing the adjustablehinge cover of the mold;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the said adjustable hinge;"-and v Fig. 9 is a rear View of the mold disclosing fur- 40 ther detailsof the adjustable hinges.

In the drawings the numeral Ill is used to designate a hopper from'which stufiing is drawn into a blast fan I I and from thence blown into chutes l2 and "I3 alternately. 1

45 A valve l4 having its axis at 15 controls the flow of material from one shoot to the other by manual adjustment by the stuffing operators so that theoperation of pad ,stuffing is carried on continuously,'there being no necessity of shutting 50. off the blast fan while one operator changes the loading nozzle from one section ofa pad to another-due to the fact that whileone operator is filling one section of his pad, the operator of the other nozzle is adjusting hisnozzle so as to fill a 5 sectionin the pad before him. Therefore, a continuous flow of the material to one operator or the other is preserved. This portion of my invention is covered in Patent Number 1,823,673 granted October 20, 1931 and for that reason it is not thought necessary or essential to discuss 5 the saidrprocess in detail except as it pertains to the invention covered by the claims herein.

The numerals l6 and I1 are used to designate nozzles, the larger tubular ends of which are hinged to the open ends of chutes I2 and I3, the 10 hinges beingso positioned as to permit of vertical movement of each of the said nozzles. The said nozzles I6 and I! are reduced throughout a portion oftheir length, said reduction extending from approximately one-half the distance between the 15 ends to the outer exhaust end thereof, the said reduced portions being semi-elliptical in cross section, thus providing an exhaust orifice which is semi-elliptical in contour. The reason for the particular shape of the exhaust orifice will be 20 explained fully hereinafter.

An emergency exhaust I8 is positioned between the fan II. and the valve l4 so that when, for some reason or other, it is necessary to shut off both filling nozzles, an auxiliary means is afforded 25 of diverting the stuifing as it comes from the blower. This auxiliary exhaust is usually connected back to the hopper so that in the interim of total shut-01f of the nozzle (which is accomplished by closing a valve l9 located directly ahead of the 30 emergency exhaust orifice) stufiing is diverted to the discharge orifice and from thence back into the hopper, thus preventing the stuffing from packing up hackof the valve 19. The auxiliary exhaust valve in addition to the stuffing diversion valve I4 is controlled by either of the two nozzle operators by means of ropes or levers.

, A trackframe, on which are mounted parallel spaced tracks 20 and 2|, is positioned adjacent the orifices of the nozzles; the said tracks are so spaced as to permit the alignment of pad molds or. carriages with the exhaust orifices of the staggered parallel nozzles, one of the said nozzles being positioned to fill pads in molds riding on one track and the other to fill pads on the adjacent track.

. In order to facilitate the travel of the molds along the tracks, wheels 22 are provided, said wheels being fixed to the bottom of the molds.

. Themold per se has a solid bottom 23 and a perforated top 24; the said perforated top is usually made of fine mesh wire which is affixed to a frame 25. The top and bottom members of the said mold are relatively adjustable through the medium of bolts and nuts 26 and adjustable hinge members 21. The rear end of the said mold is also perforated-and is formed of a frame Zl to which a screen 28 is affixed. Thus by adjustment of the nuts 28 and the adjustable hinges 21, the space between the top and bottom members of the said mold may be changed.

Locking members 28 are provided, the said locking members being fixed to the hinged top of the said mold and the bottom end of the locking member is so formed as to cause the top to be locked to the base when the said hinged top is in closed position. These locking members are adjustable so that the lock is operative at any adjustment of the height of the mold.

The operation of my device is as follows:

Loading operators at adjacent ends of the tracks load the molds in the following manner:

The pads to be filled are designated by the letters A and are in the form of appropriately shaped foraminous containers or bodies in which spaced rows of stitching B are employed to join the opposite sides thereof and thus define sections or cells having the outer ends thereof fully open for the reception of the filling and the filling conducting sleeves or tubes C.

In preparation for the filling operation, a pad is placed upon the mold or carriage, with the open or material receiving ends of the cells or sections thereof presented, of course, toward the nozzle side of the structure and with the sleeves C placed in the cells with the inner ends thereof against the opposed side of the mold, the mold is ready for advance to the filling station of the associated track or support. It is shown that the tracks or supports extend transversely of the discharge orifices of the several nozzles and support the pad carrying members for movement in paths intersecting the longitudinal axes of such discharge orifices. In this way, the sleeves are successively and intermittently aligned with the discharge orifices for the fiow of filling material.

A loading operator then rolls the mold on the track to a point adjacent one of the nozzles (depending on which track the said mold is on) and then loads a mold on the other track. A filling operator adjacent the said loading operator will align tube C with his nozzle; he then grasps the said tube, slips it over the end of the exhaust nozzle and whenthe operator of the adjacent nozzle completes the filling of one section of his pad, he operates the valve I5 as to divert the fiow of stufiing material to the nozzle of the adjacent filling operator. Immediately the stuffing begins to build up within the pad against the rear end of the mold, the tube is slowly withdrawn from the sleeve, the speed of withdrawal depending on the size of the pad to be filled and the pressure of the blast fan, it being necessary that the operator keep the end of the tube approximately three inches from the packed stufiing in the pad as to permit air,'which is exhausted with the cotton from the nozzle, to escape through the porous side of the pad which is positioned adjacent the perforated side of the said mold. When the pad is filled, the operator adjusts the valve as to cause the filling material to be blown into the adjacent nozzle, whereupon the operator of the adjacent nozzle will take up the filling ofa section of a pad in a mold mounted on the other track. It is to be noted that the tube C is now telescoped onto the nozzle and to disengage it therefrom the operator raises his nozzle far enough to permit the tube to clear the top of the mold, slips the tube off the nozzle onto the top of the mold, rolls the car as to align the filling nozzle with the orifice of the tube in the adjacent sleeve in the pad and, upon the diversion of the stufiing to his nozzle by the adjacent operator, begins with the filling of the newly presented pad.

One operator stands on one side of one nozzle and the other on the opposite side of the adjacent nozzle and as one of the operators completes the loading of a pad he, through the medium of the diversion valve, diverts the flow of stuffing material to the other nozzle which has been aligned with one of the tubes in the adjacent pad, whereupon the first named operator raises his nozzle vertically, slips the tube telescoped thereon onto the top of the mold and aligns the said nozzle with the tube in the next section of the pad to be filled.

Thus it is seen that the operation of pad filling is continuous. One operator fills one section of a pad mounted in a mold on the lower track while the operator of the other nozzle will be divesting that nozzle of a tube and aligning the said nozzle with a tube previously inserted in the next section of his pad. Immediately one of the pads is completely filled it is rolled back to the operator who filled it and another mold with a pad in position for filling is rolled to the same nozzle operator by the operator at the opposite end of the track. The loading operator on each end of the tracks loads the molds on both the top and bottom tracks so as one pad is being filled the loading operator is loading another mold on the adjacent track. The filling of the pads is started at the tube designated by the numeral l in the drawing and is continued through operations 2, 3, 4 and 5, whereupon the mold is returned to the operator who filled it. Thus only four operators are required to load and fill pads continuously.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a structure for filling pads having sections, a reservoir for filling material, a filling nozzle connected therewith and having a discharge orifice, a track adjacent the discharge orifice in said nozzle, a pad carrying mold mounted on said track, sleeves in the sections of the pad mounted in the mold, means for aligning a sleeve with the discharge opening in the nozzle, the said sleeve being adapted to be telescoped over the said nozzle during the operation of filling the associated section, said nozzle being movable to permit withdrawal of the sleeve therefrom.

2. In a filling device'for pads having sections, a reservoir for filling material, diverging nozzles connected to said reservoir and having discharge orifices, spaced parallel tracks extending transversely of the discharge orifices in the said nozzles, pad carrying molds movably mounted on said tracks, sleeves in the sections of the pads mounted therein, means for aligning the sleeves with the discharge orifices in the nozzles, said sleeves being adapted to be telescoped over the nozzles during the operation of filling the section in which a sleeve is fitted and means for diverting the flow of material from one nozzle to the other.

3. In a filling device for pads having sections, a reservoir for filling material, a hinged filling nozzle connected therewith, means for conveying filling material from the reservoir through the nozzle, means for, positioning a pad having sections adjacent the discharge orifice in the said nozzle, sleeves in the sections of the said pad, the said sleeves being adapted to be telescoped over the nozzle during the filling operation of the pad section in which a sleeve is contained and bein removable from the nozzle, and means for aligning the sleeve in the adjacent section with the said nozzle.

4. In a structure for filling pads of the type having cells provided with inlet ends, a nozzle having means for conducting a column of filling material, a carriage for association with the nozzle and having means for mounting a pad with the inlet ends of the cells thereof at the nozzle side of the carriage, individual sleeves detachably and slidably positioned in said cells and constituting delivery elements for said filling material, a carriage support having means supporting the carriage and the pad mounted thereon for movement across the line of flow of the column of filling material for the successive presentation of said sleeves to said nozzle, said sleeves being successively movable into telescopic engagement with said nozzle, and a nozzle mounting supporting the nozzle for movement away from said pad for the removal of the sleeve previously telescoped therewith.

5. In a structure for filling pads of the type having cells provided with inlet ends, a nozzle having means for conducting a column of filling material, a carriage for association with the nozzle and having means for mounting a pad with the inlet ends of the cells thereof at the nozzle side of the carriage, individual sleeves detachably and slidably positioned in said cells and constituting delivery elements for said filling material, and a carriage support having means supporting the carriage and the pad mounted thereon for movement across the line of flow of the column of filling material for the successive presentation of said sleeves to said nozzle, said sleeves being successively movable into telescopic association with said nozzle.

6. In a structure for filling pads of the type having cells provided with inlet ends, a nozzle having means for conducting a column of filling material, a carriage for association with the nozzle and having means for mounting a pad with the inlet ends of the cells thereof at the nozzle side of the carriage, individual sleeves detachably and slidably positioned in said cells and constitutlng delivery elements for said filling material, and a carriage support having means supporting the carriage and the pad mounted thereon for movement across the line of flow of the column of filling material for the successive presentation of said sleeves to said nozzle.

7. In a, structure for filling pads of the type having cells provided with inlet ends, a nozzle having means for conducting a column of filling material, a carriage having means for mounting a pad with the inlet ends of the cells thereof at the nozzle side of the carriage, and individual sleeves detachably and slidably positioned in said cells, said carriage being movable transversely of the line of flow of the column of filling material and in the region thereof for the successive presentation of the sleeves to said nozzle.

8. In a structure for filling pads of the type having cells provided with inlet ends, a nozzle having means for conducting a column of cell filling material, individual sleeves detachably and slidably positioned in said cells, and means supporting the pads for movement across the line of flow of the column of filling material substantially at right angles thereto for the successive and individual presentation of the sleeves to the nozzle.

9. In a filling device for pads having a plurality of sections, sleeves for insertion into the sections of the pads, a reservoir for filling material, hinged filling nozzles having communication therewith and having discharge orifices, pad carrying members, supports extended transversely of said discharge orifices and having means guiding said pad carrying members in paths intersecting the longitudinal axes of said discharge orifices for intermittently aligning the sleeves and associated sections with the discharge orifices, said sleeves being movable into telescopic relation with said nozzles.

THOMAS L. MCJOYNT. 

